Fuminori Nakamura - Evil and the Mask

The video playing on the computer came up on the projector. I watched it again, leaning back on the sofa, trying to forget my unpleasant meeting with the cop. The screen changed from black to orange, and then Kaori appeared, wearing a thin white sweater, resting her elbows on a table in a café. Her beer glass was half empty, and her dinner was salad, spring rolls and a small pizza. She was beautiful, so beautiful that I forgot all about Shintani’s life and the shock of Aida’s visit.

Suddenly I was surprised by Kaori’s laugh. It was still the same high-pitched laugh it had always been. After an absence of ten years or more I was hearing her again. I moved to the chair by the table. Kaori clapped her hands lightly.

“I mean, really! Isn’t that incredible?”

That was Azusa Konishi’s voice.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s amazing.”

“So I said, ‘That’s incredible.’ And he looked all smug.”

Kaori giggled again. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but I smiled too. I took a mouthful of whiskey from a glass that was sitting on the table, and its warmth spread slowly through my body.

“It was awful. It was all I could do not to laugh.”

“I’m amazed you managed it,” said Kaori.

Her cheeks were slightly flushed. I could see the curve of her breasts beneath her sweater. She picked up her beer mug with slender fingers and took a small sip. Her throat moved as she swallowed. Her eyes were moist with alcohol.

“Lots of guys are like that, aren’t they?” Konishi said. “Hey, have you got a boyfriend?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Anyone you like?”

“Well, that customer, Yajima, he’s pretty nice.”

Bad taste, I thought.

“But a smarmy customer like that, he can suddenly stop coming, you know.”

“Yeah, maybe. He’s still just a customer, though.”

“I don’t know why you don’t have a man. You’re so pretty!”

“What? You’re much prettier, Azumi! You became the top girl at work straight away, didn’t you?”

Konishi had applied for the job using the name Azumi.

“I really wanted to be inconspicuous,” said Konishi.

“But you’re so outgoing!”

“Maybe.”

Another giggle. A waiter approached politely and asked if they’d like another drink.

“Um, a gin and lime.”

“Beer for me,” said Kaori.

“More beer?”

“Well, okay, gin and lime.”

“Kaori, can’t you think for yourself?”

“All right then, gin and tonic.”

Azusa Konishi laughed loudly. The waiter brushed the camera with his arm and the image tilted. Maybe it was hidden in a lighter or something. The picture shook and then the screen went dark. I watched the recording again, then switched it to continuous play. I watched Kaori’s white sweater, listened to Kaori’s laughter. I watched it over and over with a smile on my face.

Outside it started to rain. In the distance I could hear the sounds of car horns, and the lights in the surrounding apartments went out one by one.

AFTER I FINISHED talking, the detective lowered his eyes.

We were in a room on the top floor of a run-down business hotel, but the interior was austere and clean. By parking in the basement of the vast shopping mall next door and walking through the Staff Only corridor, we’d managed to reach the hotel’s underground car-park, so even if someone was following our car, from outside it would look like we’d gone into the mall. The detective had taken the stairs, avoiding both the reception area and the elevator. He had a connection in the hotel, so he knew there were no security cameras in the stairwell.

“It’s my fault,” he said, bowing deeply. “I’m very sorry.”

I shook my head slowly.

“No, it’s just one of those things. That cop, Aida, is kind of obsessed. Trading places with someone can never be entirely straightforward. When you do something unexpected and out of the ordinary, you’ve got to accept the risks.”

“It was definitely treated as an accident pure and simple. Shintani was never questioned, even informally, and Sae Suzuki’s family didn’t bring a civil case against him either.”

“Probably,” I began, and then drank some coffee.

The cup had a red pattern, like deep gashes. I thought idly that my meetings with the detective always seemed to involve coffee.

“Aida had probably forgotten all about it until he saw me on the security camera. He spotted me, got a surprise and got in touch with Sae’s mother, Yaeko, for the first time in ages. Then he heard that she was seriously ill. That’s probably how it happened, I think. And he just felt that the coincidence must mean something. It’s a real pain. So is the thing with Yajima. The Yajima problem will be fine though, won’t it?”

He looked down, as though he was thinking. “I don’t think they’ll ever be able to catch the person who gave him the adulterated drugs. Whoever it was, they’d have handed them over under the table or something so that no one could see.”

“Yeah. Under the table, and I bet he had special clear tape on his fingertips so he didn’t leave any prints. Whoever he was.” I no longer had any fingerprints, in case something like this happened, but I spoke deliberately and took another gulp of coffee.

The corners of his mouth relaxed as he debated how to respond. “Then there’s no problem. Even if someone saw them talking in the bar, that doesn’t prove he gave him the poison. And they can’t even be certain that the handover took place there. There’d have been hundreds of opportunities. He could have got the drugs a week earlier. A month, even. Since he was a regular user, he probably had a fair stash. The most obvious theories are that he added the poison to the drugs himself to kill himself or that a woman or someone who had ready access to his apartment mixed them.”

“If they did track down the guy who was talking to Yajima,” I said, “and asked him what the meeting was about, he could just say that he’d been interested in buying some drugs but had changed his mind.”

“Sounds good to me. If he admits to something, they’re more likely to believe him. It’s like he’s got no reason to hide the fact that he met him.”

He stood and opened the refrigerator. Then he started speaking again, still with his back to me.

“But on the other hand, if they found out that this man really did have some kind of connection to Yajima, he’d be in big trouble.”

He still didn’t turn around.

“A murder inquiry starts by considering the victim and his associates. That cop might make the connection between Yajima and Ms. Kaori, but as long as he believes that this Shintani guy really is Shintani, he can’t tie him to Yajima’s death, because he has no motive, no reason to kill him. Obviously there is no link between him and Ms. Kaori either. However, if he works out that this man is not in fact who he appears to be, and if he discovers that he did actually have a motive to kill Yajima and is connected to Ms. Kaori, then the situation becomes very grave. When one lie unravels, the whole story falls apart. The truth comes spilling out.”

“So I need to completely immerse myself in my role as Koichi Shintani.”

The room was too warm. The black table in front of me was damp.

“I’ll have another look at his background. If by some chance he did have something to do with Sae Suzuki’s accident, we’re in a much more difficult position.”

“Please do. For the time being, Ms. Konishi’s reports on Kaori will be enough.”